Mexico’s Climate of Violence: Why Are Journalists Being Killed?

A vigil for journalist Javier Valdez Cardenas, who was killed in Culiacan in 2017.

The killing of freelance journalist, Eduardo Ochoa, in Michoacan, and reporter, Pablo Morrugares, in Guerrero, in early August 2020, shocked Mexico and the international community. But, in truth, their deaths are nothing new in a country where 125 journalists are suspected to have been murdered since 1992.

The disquieting level of violence against journalists in Mexico has become so dangerous that, in 2019, the country surpassed Syria – an active warzone – to become the deadliest country in the world for journalists to operate in.

Making a bad situation even worse is the fact that the vast majority of these killings are carried out by individuals who are often never identified or walk away scot-free. In fact, a recent report estimates that 99% of all journalist homicide cases go unpunished.

Despite failings on a juridical level, journalist homicides in Mexico have not gone under the radar. Numerous organisations such as The Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ) and Article 19 have come out in support of Mexico-based journalists, condemning the spike in homicides.

Source: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

In light of the killing of Pablo Morrugares, CPJ put out a statement that read: “We are dismayed that Mexican journalists are being killed while supposedly under federal protection. Authorities must do everything in their power to curb this impunity in attacks on the press, bring the culprits in Pablo Morrugares’ murder to justice, and guarantee the safety of reporters it has committed to protect”.

It's clear that this is an issue that won’t simply disappear for Mexico, especially because those carrying out the murders are rarely brought to justice. But, the continued killing of journalists in Mexico is just one aspect of a far greater, multifaceted problem – Mexico’s relentless climate of violence.

A Climate of Violence

Globally, Mexico ranks 19th in the list of countries with the highest rate of intentional homicides per 100,000 people, and, in the first four months of 2020, homicides actually climbed by a further 2.4%, hitting record levels. In March 2020 alone, Mexico registered 2,585 homicides, the highest monthly figure since records began in 1997.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic encouraging people to practice social distancing and remain indoors as much as possible, the country is currently on track to break its record for the highest amount of homicides ever annually recorded.

And, with other high-profile sources of controversy such as the country’s spike in femicides, the eyes of the world are on Mexico and how the government plans to combat and curtail further loss of life.

Many hoped that the electoral victory of left-wing, presidential candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador – commonly known as AMLO – might prove to undermine and debilitate those responsible for carrying out violent crime, but a report in July 2020 found that Mexico’s murder rate had actually increased by 71% in the president’s first 18 months in office.

Why Are Journalists Being Killed?

To put it in simple terms, journalists are killed in Mexico for doing their job – exposing injustice, crime, and corruption, and dutifully informing the public and the wider world. Whether this entails reporting on organised crime, drug trafficking, or high-profile instances of corrupt activity, it doesn’t matter. In Mexico, speaking truth to power can get you multiple bullet wounds and a premature funeral.

The motive for Marrugares’ murder is not currently known. He was the founder and editor of PM Noticias, a popular news website that covers everything from politics to crime in the state of Guerrero – one of Mexico’s most violent states. In 2016, Marrugares and his wife were the targets of another attack in the city of Iguana, but both escaped with their lives.

Following the first attempt on the journalist’s life, Marrugares was placed in a protection program overseen by the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists. After receiving a series of threats online, Marrugares and the police officer assigned to ensure his safety were both shot dead by two heavily armed men while the journalist was in a restaurant.

While Marrugares becomes the second journalist to have lost their life while enrolled in the protection programme this year, a number of critics have called out the inadequacies of the programme, with a CPJ representative saying, “We are dismayed that Mexican journalists are being killed while supposedly under federal protection”.

Mounting frustration regarding the system’s flaws are also being directed at AMLO, who originally promised to increase protections for journalist after he took office. Over ten journalists have now lost their lives during AMLO’s presidency.

Paul Velazquez, an independent journalist known for criticising corruption on YouTube, recently pleaded with AMLO during a press conference to ensure the president didn’t forget his promise. Speaking directly to the president, Velazquez said: “President, they are killing us, don’t forget it please, they are killing us”. He later stated: “President, I want to remind you that investigative journalists are not trophies for corrupt rulers to hunt down”.

Velazquez, who survived an attempt on his own life, has first-hand knowledge on the dangers of being a journalist in Mexico. Now instantly recognised by the eyepatch stretched across his head and the metal surgical pins in his face, Velazquez was shot in the face in a street in Los Mochis, Sinaloa. In a gruesome video documenting the attack, Velazquez is seen bleeding out on the floor of a grocery store. He blames the attempted assassination on the Los Mochis Mayor Manuel Guillermo Chapman Moreno, fuelling rumours of corruption.

And, Velazquez isn’t the first journalist to call out AMLO on his failure to stem the tide of journalist homicides.

Is AMLO to Blame?

Credit: Flickr/EneasDeTroya

Winning the election with just over 53% of the ballot, AMLO’s landslide victory spoke volumes about the significance of his simple message about tackling corruption and improving the lives of those in poverty. But, while the embattled president still enjoys the support of a vocal base, there are also many who view his time in office with disdain and derision.

Likening AMLO to other populist figures in South America, such as Hugo Chavez and Jair Bolsonaro, one report suggested that “[AMLO] poses a genuine threat both to Mexican prosperity and democracy” and that his actions in government bare “little resemblance to the progressive banner under which he ran.” Suggesting the president is something of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the report goes on to suggest that while “he publicly rails against neoliberalism, AMLO is no far-leftist”.

Some critics have suggested that the president’s perceived indifference to the attacks appear to be caught up in his ongoing campaign against the ideologies of conservatism and neoliberalism. In the past, AMLO has branded the media as the “fifi press”. He views the press as a pretentious bourgeois and has called journalists “nobodies, conservatives, know-it-alls” and “hypocrites”. After one of many charged exchanges with journalists from the newspaper, Reforma, the editor of the paper actually received death threats.

Like most populist leaders, AMLO clearly believes that the press, as vessels of information, are out to get him. The facts are there for all to see though, violence continues to rise in Mexico and there isn’t much evidence of this changing. And, even if the president has no ideas on how to combat journalist homicides, many wish that, at the very least, he’d stop encouraging the condemnation of those who practice journalism.